Pleasure-railway.



' .PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908. E. F. GARDNER & A. J. SCHMIDT.

' PLEASURE RAILWAY. APPLIUA'DIQN FILED MAY 31,1907.

2 SEEMS-SHEET 1.

. N wan Lewes J Gebrztlwr Azg' wta'kswmlmmt ow No. 881,788. .PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908.

I E. F. GARDNER &' A. J. SCHMIDT.

PLEASURE RAILWAY. APPLIO'ATIDH FILED MA; 8. 1907.

2 SHEETS-$111321 2.

- m pleasure railways. The object of the present invention is to- W UfirrEn STATES PATENT orruoni.

EDWARD FRANKLIN GARDNER AND AUGUST JACOB SCHMIDT, OF S CRANTON, v Y .PENNSYLVANIA. i

rrinasunnnamwar.

To l whom it may co /teem: i Y A Be itknown'that we, ED'W'ARD FRAnxLiN GAR NE and AUGUST JAcoB Sonmnr, citi- Zens of the United States residing at Scran-" useful Pleasure-Railway, of which the fol lowing isa specification.

The invention relates to improvements in improve. the construction of pleasure railways, and to provide a simple and comparat1vely 1nexpensive pleasure railway and to 51!, enable alp urality of inclined portions to be arranged 1n the same vertical plane, so that the leasure railway will occupy a relatively 'sma amount of ground space.

- A further object of the invention is to provide a pleasure railway, .having 'means for i enabling cars to travel over a circuitous track of this character, without inverting the carsgwhile transferring them from an upper inclined section of the track to the next lower asinclined section, and to provide safe means for gently transferring "the cars from one in-, cline toanother.

vAnother object of the invention is to provide ineans for maintaining the cars in a horiso zontal position while they are traveling up .an'inchneleading to the top of the pleasure -'rail way, so that the occupants will not be 1 causedto assume an uncomfortable position 1 during such. initial upward movement of the 85' cars.

, With these and other objects in view, the invention'consists in the, construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter fully, fdescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and (pointed; out-in the claims hereto 'appende it being understood that various-changes in the form, proportion, size Y andminor details of construction, within the v scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departingtfromthe spirit or sacrificing an" ofthe'advantages of t e inventions,

- l n the drawingsz Figur'e 1 is a longitudinal sectionaiview of a pleasurera lway, ,constructed in accordance with-this 1nven-' tion. Fig, Zisarear elevationof thesarne. Fig. 3 is a side view of pne of the car's. -Fig. 4 is a frontelevation of'one off l thel cars, the upper and lowerrails being in sect on, Figs.

1 5 a'n'dfi are detail views of one of the eleva-v as tors. Eig'; 'Zis a'detailsfectional view, 1llu s Patented March 10, .1908.

trating the manner ofslidably connectin the elevator with the sides of the framewor l Like numerals of reference designate c0r-., responding. parts in all the figures of'the drawin i I 1 designates a supportingfi'ame orframe:

work, designed'to be constructed of wood, or

metal and consisting of two sides andsuitable connecting cross ieces. The vframework, wh ch may be varied to suit the size of the pleasure railway, is provided with an en:

' larged base 2, and is designed'to be. supported at intervals by inclined braces 3, extending upwardly and inwardly from. the'side edges 0 the base to the sides of the frame-work.

The frame-work is provided with acoutinuous circuitous double track 4 to receive inner and outer top or hanger wheels 5 and 6 of a car 7, and it has an interrupted single traclr, arranged in substantially the" same vertical lane as. the continuous double track an composed of oppositely inclined spaced sections 8, 9,10 and 11 to receive the bottom wheels 12 of the car 7, ,Theoontinuous double track 4 is composed of inner and outer rails 13 and 14, 'and the car, which may havea body of any preferred forin, is provided at opposite sides-with upwardly inclined. bars 15, connected at their .upper ends to form hangers.- The bars 15 are provided with lower extensions 16, which are suitably secured to the body of the car andthe upper connected ends of the hanger bars 15 are provided Witheyes 17 for the reception of a transverse top shaft or axle 18. The top shaft or axle 1,8 is provided at-its endslwit suitable spindles 19 to receive the wheels 5 and 6, which are flanged and which are re- The continuous top or hangerrails and 14' consist of oppositely inclined portions,

located in the same vertical planes, and

curved portions or bend-sj,- connecting the proximate ends of the inclined porticnsof the hanger rails. The outer topwheels 6 of the top of the car are arranged torun; on: the

outerrails 14, which arelocated atithe bottom of the double track at the first or top inclrne of the pleasure railway. The bottom ralls of the double track sustain the weight of the car, arid the tdprails serve as uide rails "and supporting rails. The inclined sections 8, .9, 10 and 11,.which are arranged in parallelism w1th the corresponding sections of the hanger rails, serve as guide rails for the body of the car, and they terminate short of the curved portions or bends 23, 24 and 25.

' interrupte Although in the, accompanying drawings, the pleasure railway is equipped with only three inclined sections, it will be apparent that the number may be varied as desired.

Thebod of the car leaves the rails of the bottom track to permit the hanger wheels to travel down the curved portions or bends of the continuous track, and 1n order to lower the cars while they are descending from one incline to another, elevators 26, 27 and 28 are employed. Each elevator is equipped with rails 29 to receive the bottom wheels of the car,fand;it is'provided at opposite sides with guides 30, which engage suitable ways 31 of the frame; The

uides 30 are preferably composed of spaced anges, and the ways 31 consist of a single flange, which extends between the spaced flanges, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 7 of the drawings. Any other suitable means, however, may be employed for slidably connecting the elevators with the frame-for causing the former to move vertically. Each elevator consists of a frame and vertical side bars 32, to which the guide flanges are secured. The vertical bars are braced by inclined rods 33, and are connected at their upper ends by a transverse rod 34. The elevator is also provided at the top of the side bars with outwardly' or rearwardly extending horizontal arms 35, which have angularly bent terminals 36, arranged to slide on vertical guide bars, short guide bars37 being provided .at the front of the frame 'for the single elevator, and long uide bars 38 being provided at the back of t e elevators 26 and .27. The front vertical guide bars 37 are connected at their terminals with the frame by arms or pieces 39, and the rear guide bars 38 are supported by similar arms or pieces 40.

The weight of the elevator and a car is partially counter-b alanced by weights 41, secured to cables 42, or other suitable flexible connections, which extend over' guide pulleys 43. the elevator, and the weights, which are overbalanced by a car, cause the latter to descend Owing to the circuitous arrangefront with an inclined trac frame to accommodate the two curved, as shown,

The'cables are secured to the sides of of the bottom tracks.-

slowly. When the hanger wheels reach the lower ends of the curved portions or bends of .the hanger tracks, the car leaves the elevator and moves down the contiguous inclined sections of the tracks.

hen the elevator 26 moves downward from the inclined track section 8 to the track section 9, it is locked against upward movement by means of a pivoted spring actuated catch 44, arranged to engage a cooperating keeper; or portion 44 of the elevator, and consisting of a bell crank lever, fulcrumed at its angle and provided at one of its arms with a head, having a beveled 111))61 edge and provided with alower engaged edge or shoulder. The catch is connected by a wire 45, or other suitable connection with a bell crank lever 46, and the latter is connected by a wire 47, or similar connection with one arm of an intermediately pivoted trip lever 49. The tri lever 49, which is dis osed in substantial iya vertical position, has its lower arm arranged to beengaged by the top shaft or axle of the car. i The trip lever 49 is mounted at the third bend or curve of the hanger track, and the top elevator is released as the car enters the thirdelevator. The second elevator is locked against upward movement by a similar catch 50, which is connected with a tri lever 510i bell crank form, mounted at the ower section or portion of the con-- tinuous double track and having one of 1ts arms arranged in the path of the to shaft or axleof the car, so that the secon elevator will be tripped and released as the car leaves the frame-work.

. The third elevator is locked by a catch 52, which is connected'by a bell crank lever 53, and the latter is connected with a trip lever 54, mounted-at the upper end of the bottom track section 11 and arranged to be engaged by one of the bottom axles of the car. The trip levers may, however, be arranged at various other points and may be operated by any suitable meanscarried by the cars.

The pleasure railway is rovided at the 55, extending and connected with the uppermost track section 8. In order that the cars may, as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, be carried up the inclined track 55 ina hor zontalposition, a pair of endless chains 57 is employed. These chains 57 are connected at intervals by cross pieces 58, preferably and arranged to receive and support the rear wheels of the car, whieh will cause the car to remain in a horizontal positionwhile it is being carried up the mclined track section 55. When the car arupwardly rives at the top of the pleasure railway, the

top hanger wheels take the continuous double hanger track, and the bottom wheels of the car are guided by the inclined sections The car then travels down the uppermost incline and when it ssmes lifting the rear end of the car as it leaves the,

fleyator should the same contain only a light Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railway of the class described, the combination of a lurality of spaced oppositely inclined track sections located at differ ent elevations and arranged in substantially the same vertical plane, and an elevator movable vertically back and forth between the sections for transferring a car from an upper section of the track to a lower section thereof to cause the car to make a continuous passage from the top to the bottom of the railway. I

.2. In a leasure railway, the combination of a plura ity of spaced inclined track sections' arranged at different elevations, an elevator movable vertically back and forth between the sections of the track to transfer a car from an upper section of the track to .a lower section thereof to cause the car to make a continuous trip from the top to the bottom of the railway, and automatically operated means for returning the elevator from the lower section of the track to the upper section thereof.

3. In a railway of the class described, the combination of a plurality of spaced inclined track sections arranged at different elevations, an automatically operable elevator movable back and forth between the trac': sections for transferring a car from an upper section of the track to a lower section thereof to cause the car to make a continu ous trip from the top to the bottom f the railway, locking mechanism for holding the elevator at the lower section of the track, and means operable by the car for tripping the locking mechanism to release 'the, elevator. P

4. In a railway of the class described, the combination of a plurality of spaced inclined track sections 'arranged at difierent elevations, an automatically operable elevator movable back and forth between the track sections for transferring a car from an upper section of the track to a lower section thereof to cause the car to make a continuous trip from the top to the bottom of the railway, a catch arranged to automatically engage the elevatorfor holding the same at the lower section of the track, and a trip lever arranged in the path of the car and connected with the catch for. releasing the elevator.

5. In a railway of the class described the combination of a continuous hanger track provided with a plurality of portions arranged at different elevations andhaving connecting curves or bends extendihgdownwardly from the upper portions of'thetrack to the lower portions thereof, arar provided with a hanger to run on the ,seiidtriidki and yieldable means locatethat the same portions or bends of the track andarrange'd to receive the car for lowering the g me from an upper portion ofthe track to a'loiverjportion thereof. 1

6. In a railway of theclassf desc the combination of a continuous track com L osc lof inclined portions arranged "at di erentelevations, and downwardly extending portionsconnecting the inclined portions, a car havin means to run on the saidtrack, and yielda ble means arranged to lower the car from one inclined portion to another. i

7. In a railway of the classdescribed, the combination of a continuous track having upoer and lower inclinedportionsi and provided with a downwardly extending [portion connecting the inclined portions,'.a' car hav ing means to run on the tr'ack,andan automatically operable elevator arranged to receive the car from anupper inclined-portion of the track to a lower inclined portion thereof. V

8. In a railway oi'nie class described, the

transferring the car from the upper inclined section of the bottom track to the lower section thereof. i f

9. In a railway of the class described,v the combination of a continuous hanger track having a plurality of inclined portions arranged at different elevations, andaninterrupted bottom track provided with spaced inclined sections, acar. having bottomwheels to run on the bottolnt-rack and provided .at the top with a hanger to run on the continuous track, and an automatically operableelevator for transferring the car from theupper section of the bottom track to the, lower section thereof.

10. In a railway the class described, the

combination of a continuous hanger track consisting of oppositely inclined portions located at different elevations, and curved portions or bends connecting the proXimate ends of the inclined portions, a bottom tIfi-.Ck, 10n1- posed of spaced inclined sections. corresponding to the inclined; portions ,o fl th'e hanger track, a car havingfbottom wheels, ;to;ri n on the bottom track proyided with top agheels arranged to run on the continuous hanger &

track, and automatically operable elevators located at the curved portions or bends of the hanger track for transferring the car from one inclined section of the bottom track to another. I

11. In a railway of the class descrihechthe combination of a continuous double hanger track having inclined portions and connecting portions, an interrupted bottom track composed of spaced sections, a car having bottom wheels to run onthe bottom track and provided at the top with hanger wheels arranged in pairs to run on the double hanger track, and means for transferring the cars from one section of the bottom track to another. I

12. In a railway of the class. described, the combination of a continuous double track having inner and outer rails and consisting of inclined portions arranged at different elevations, and bends connecting the inclined portions, a car having hanger wheels arranged in pairs to run on the inner and outer rails, and. means for gradually lowering the car from one inclined portion to another.

13. In a railway of the class described, the combination of a track consisting of inclined portions arranged at diiferent elevations and having connecting bends, and means for transferring a car from one inclined portion of the track to another without inverting the car.

g 14.. In a railway of the class described, the combination of an inclined track extending to the upper portion of the railway, and means for carrying a car in a horizontal position up the inclined track, said means embodying a eonveyer arranged to support the rear portion of the car in spaced relation with the inclined track.

15. In a railway of the class described, the combination of an inclined track extending to the upper portion of the railway, and means for carrying a car in a horizontal position up the inclined track, said means comprising a pair of endless belts or chains and a cross piece connecting the belts or chains and arranged to receive the rear portion of the car for supporting the same in spaced relation with the inclined track.

1.6. A pleasure railwaycomprising aplurality of oppositely inclined interrupted track sections spaced apart and located one above 4 the other, a continuoustrack composed of oppositely inclined sections extending through the space between the interrupted track sections and provided at the ends thereof with connectingbends, and a car arranged to travel on the intcrruptedtrack sectionsand provided with means to run on the continuous track.

' 17. Apleasure railway com 'irisinga plural ity of oppositely inclined interrupted track sections located in substantially the same vertical plane, a continuous track also comnames posed of oppositely inc-lined sections extending through the spaces between the interrupted track sections and provided at the ends thereof with connecting bends, and a car arranged to run on the interrupted track sections and provided with means for interlocking it with the continuous track.

1 8. A, pleasure railwa y comprising a plurality of oppositely inclined interrupted track. sections located in substantially the same vertical plane, a continuous track also composed of oppositely inclined sections extending through the spaces between the interrupted track sections and provided at the ends thereof with connecting bends, a, car arranged to run on the interrupted track sections and provided with means i or interlocking it with the continuous track, and means for retarding the speed of the car at the said bends and for transferring the said car from one of the interrupted track sections to another to cause the car to make a contirnious trip from the .top to the bottom of the pleasure railwav.

19. A pleasure railway comprising a plurality of inclined interrupted track sections spaced apart and located one above the other, a continuous track composed of oppositely inclined sections extending through the space between the interrupted track sections and provided at the ends thereof with connecting bonds, :1 car arranged to travel on the interrupted track sections and provided with means to run on the continuous tra *k, and a plurality of elevators arranged to receive the car transferring the same from one track section to another.

20. Apleasuro railway comprisinga plurality of inclined interrupted track sections spaced apart and located one above. the other, a continuous track composed of oppositelV inclined sections extending through the space between the interrupted track sections and "provided at the ends thereof with connecting bends, a car arranged to travel on the interrupted track sections and provided with means to run on the continuous track, and a plurality of automaticall operable clcvators arranged to receive the car and movable bachwardly and forwardly between the interrupted track sections for conveying the car from one track section to another.

21. A pleasure railway comprising a plurality of oppositely inclined track sections spaced apart and located one above the other, a continuous track composed of oppositcl} inclined sections cxtcnding through the space between the interrupted track sections and provided at the ends thereof with connecting bends, a car arranged to travel on the interrupted track sections and provided with means to run on the continuous track, and means for retarding the speed of the car at the said bend. and for transferring the car from one of the interrupted track sections to H another to 'cause the car to make a continuj one trip from the top to the bottom of the i-p leasure railway.

22. In a pleasure railway of the class described, the combination of an inclined track extending to the upper portion ofthe railway, and means for carrying a car in a horizontal position up the inclined track,

said means embodying an endless conveyer having: an upwardly moving flight or stretch located above and spaced from the inclined track, and means connected with the said EDWARD FRANKLIN GARDNER. AUGUST JACOB SCHMIDT.

'Witnesses:

CHAs. E. CoURsEx, BENJ. PmLLiPs. 

